Rows of shattered pews and bloodstains beneath images of Christian icons were laid bare to the world following a deadly terrorist attack on the Mar Elias Greek Orthodox Church in Damascus on June 20, 2025.
A gunman opened fire on worshippers during the church’s Sunday evening service before detonating an explosive vest. The interim government in Damascus blamed the Islamic State for the attack, which was swiftly and widely condemned by the international community. The Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES) also denounced the assault and called for nationwide security guarantees for Syria’s minority populations—protections already in place in the northeast.
The incident is one of the deadliest attacks since the fall of the Assad regime in late 2024. This assault on Damascus’s Christian community, along with earlier attacks by Islamist gunmen targeting the Alawite community in Latakia, highlights Syria’s ongoing instability. Much of this unrest is driven by the persistent presence of extremist militants, who continue to wage violence under the banner of ISIS and similar organizations.
An estimated few thousand ISIS fighters remain active across Syria and Iraq. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), supported by the United States and the International Coalition to Defeat ISIS, continue to combat the group in the eastern provinces of Hasakah, Raqqa, and Deir ez-Zor.
Meanwhile, the DAANES and the SDF—backed by the U.S.—are pursuing deeper integration with Damascus under the terms of the March 2025 agreement signed by SDF General Commander Mazloum Abdi and Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
The United States has urged Syria’s interim leadership to uphold its responsibility to protect the country’s diverse communities and to prevent Syria from becoming a haven for terrorism again. At the same time, they have removed Al-Sharaa’s group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham from the US list of terrorist organizations, and are putting increasing pressure on the SDF to integrate. In early July, General Mazloum and a delegation from the northeast met with Al-Sharaa and Tom Barrack, US Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria to further the discussions.
